What do I need to have prepared for online check-in?

[RedHead0186]

What a bummer - I logged in at midnight to check in, had no problem entering my info, and the earliest PAT was 2pm?! So much for being on board for lunch. Dang.

Keep checking back. Earlier PATs may open up as people's plans shift (I've done it in the past).

 

[S. C.]

What a bummer - I logged in at midnight to check in, had no problem entering my info, and the earliest PAT was 2pm?! So much for being on board for lunch. Dang.

You would think the day we board they would have lunch time for a little longer then 2pm so everyone's not so rushed to be able to eat. I hope something earlier opens up for you.

 

[S. C.]

...

 

[S. C.]

Hi there, friend! Haven't seen you in quite awhile!

The check-in process isn't all that bad. We are sailing in a few weeks on the Dream from Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades. Ft. Lauderdale is our home base down here in South Florida. No more driving up to Port Canaveral for us for DCL cruises and I am so happy about that!

Hope you are doing well and enjoyed your cruise. Granddaughter got us checked in said it was pretty painless. I'm cruising with grandson, his wife and daughter. Mine and grandson's 3rd Disney cruise his wife and daughters first cruise on any line. Great granddaughter is 5 and into Disney characters I can't wait to see her excitement on board.

 

[S. C.]

I just did it last week. It wasn’t too bad took around 20 minutes. It is five sections.

View attachment 807674

Guest Information took the longest-that’s where you drop selfies and passport scans into the boxes. List emergency contact

If the information is the same for everyone in your cabin, you can mark also applies to list of guests like when it asks how you are getting to the port, staying after cruise etc

Thank you! Granddaughter checked us in only took her about 10 minutes. Boarding group 7 PAT 11:45 - 12:00. She said it was pretty painless.

 

[Blueshirtfam]

Do we need to submit new pictures for online check in even though we did it last year? Do they keep our pics in their system?

 

[RedHead0186]

Do we need to submit new pictures for online check in even though we did it last year? Do they keep our pics in their system?

Yes, you need to resubmit, the old ones won't save from last time.

 

[mpetersen]

Our online check in opens in March (we sail late April) and while we should have passports by the trip we may not by check in date. Will this mess us up? Can I not do online check in without those passport pictures?

 

[RedHead0186]

Our online check in opens in March (we sail late April) and while we should have passports by the trip we may not by check in date. Will this mess us up? Can I not do online check in without those passport pictures?

You will need photos of your citizenship documents for online check in. For most cruises, citizenship documents are either a passport, or a birth certificate and photo ID (for adults). Please note this may be different depending on where you're from and what itinerary you're doing, so double check for your specific cruise.

To your question: if you won't have passports in time for online check in, you can use birth certificates and photo ID, then change once you get your passports. But you'll have to upload something for citizenship docs in order to complete online check in.

 

[DigitalOlli]

We are sailing on the magic out of Port Everglades in July.

Do the PAT go as fast as at Port Carneveral or is it a little bit easier to grab a early time?

 

[RedHead0186]

We are sailing on the magic out of Port Everglades in July.

Do the PAT go as fast as at Port Carneveral or is it a little bit easier to grab a early time?

I'm not sure the port matters. My guess is that the bigger factor is the 'mix' of Castaway Club statuses. If there's a higher percentage of Platinum guests, for example, they get to check in sooner and gobble up all the earlier PATs. If there's a better mix of Silver/Gold/etc., then everyone has more of a fighting chance during online check in. There's no way to k know the mix for sure, but rarer itineraries tend to have a higher percentage of higher CC levels.

 

[Disturbia]

Just an FYI the passport page needs to be glare free and it auto populates your name passport number date of birth and expiration so make sure you have the codes in the bottom of the passport page aligned and not cut off. If you see a spinning circle just refresh and resubmit info (progress does get saved; got annoying real fast trying to check in 5 people). The kids photos need to have nothing int(e background (a photo with a fridge or slightly sideways wasn’t accepted).

Also have an alternative electronic device (eg ipad) with a credit card stored as the iPhone (app opens a webpage window for check in) wouldn’t auto load my saved Disney credit card info. I had to log into my iPad to get through the credit card charges screen.

 

[DigitalOlli]

I'm not sure the port matters. My guess is that the bigger factor is the 'mix' of Castaway Club statuses. If there's a higher percentage of Platinum guests, for example, they get to check in sooner and gobble up all the earlier PATs. If there's a better mix of Silver/Gold/etc., then everyone has more of a fighting chance during online check in. There's no way to k know the mix for sure, but rarer itineraries tend to have a higher percentage of higher CC levels.

Its our first cruise and the 5 night Bahamas Cruise with both Disney Islands. I think there are many higher level Status on the Cruise.
We have an early arrival, do we have to wait till our boarding time is come or can we enter the terminal?

 

[RedHead0186]

Its our first cruise and the 5 night Bahamas Cruise with both Disney Islands. I think there are many higher level Status on the Cruise.
We have an early arrival, do we have to wait till our boarding time is come or can we enter the terminal?

Then you are the lowest Castaway Club level, and you're right that there will likely be lots of higher-tier Castaway Club members on your cruise since it's a 5-night to both Disney Islands. So the early PATs will likely get snatched up by many of them.

Port Arrival Time is not the time you board the ship. It's the time you need to arrive at port. Once you arrive at port they'll either stick you in a line for your PAT, or let you right in the terminal if there's no lines. Once you into the terminal, through check in and security, you'll either wait for your boarding group to be called or, if it's after a certain time, they'll have called open boarding and you can walk right on the ship.

 

[Angeliki19]

If you have multiple staterooms, you have to do them one at a time. You can do it from one log in, just switch reservations.

Preparation:
1. have downloaded to your device 1) a clean headshot of each person (straight on, no eyeglasses, hats or hair accessories, shoulders included, cannot be the same as passport photo), low resolution and 2) passport photo. Must be JPEG file!
2. a document with each passenger's birthdate, address, cell phone, email address, passport number, passport expiration, safe word for kids club, emergency contact name, emergency contact phone number, credit card information
3. Flight information for all legs -- date, airline, airport from, airport to, confirmation number/record locator number, flight number, time departure, time arrival

For speed:
1. Upload photo and if it says it doesn't meet the criteria, click SAVE and move on. Deal with it after you get your PAT.
2. For Onboard account, select Cash to get through it quickly
3. For Travel Plans, select Driving to get through it quickly. I just used home address for the return.
4. Finish each stateroom then go back and fix photo, add credit card, add flight information.

You can change PAT times, so keep checking to see if any better ones become available closer to the cruise.

You can edit the Online Checkin information as much as you want (at least I have so far), until that piece of it goes under review and can't be modified.

ETA: Make sure everyone has at least six months remaining on passport at the time of the trip. If not, check in and get the passport(s) renewed and update to the new one. If you are not from the US, be sure to research any VISA requirements.

Is this still the best strategy- meaning just fill out all the required pieces of info, get your PAT and then go back and add flight info, credit card, etc?

 

[RedHead0186]

Is this still the best strategy- meaning just fill out all the required pieces of info, get your PAT and then go back and add flight info, credit card, etc?

Yes. Fill out required info, pick the simplest response for onboard account, travel, etc. to get your PAT. You can go back and edit flights and add credit card info, etc.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

Thanks for all the advice on this tread, it helped a lot. Checked in last night at midnight and got 12:30 PAT BG 13 as a first time cruiser.

Some extra things I found helped:

1. For Passport photos, stand back a bit from the passport and use your zoom to get in closer, This reduces the chance of glare. Worked well for all 4 of mine. No upload problems and the website captured all information easily.

2. For all photos I took (passport and headshots) then used screenshot on my phone to recapture the photo. The JPG file of the original photo was 4MGs. The screenshot of the same image was 1/4 of the size. This allowed the photos to upload almost instantly.

3. I downloaded the photos to multiple devices. That way if one was giving me problems, I had them on another device without slowing me down.

 

[CarolynU]

Just to check. My portrait photo can’t I wear my glasses? I can’t see a thing without them.
My check in is this month. Last year I sailed Princess because it didn’t want to do all this stuff again and it was so so quick and simple.
Then this year I forgot so booked DCL again and now my heart is sinking!!!

 

[Doingitagain]

Just to check. My portrait photo can’t I wear my glasses? I can’t see a thing without them.
My check in is this month. Last year I sailed Princess because it didn’t want to do all this stuff again and it was so so quick and simple.
Then this year I forgot so booked DCL again and now my heart is sinking!!!

It is not that bad! Most of the tips are to streamline for fast input so you get a lower PAT. But in the scheme of things, an hour or so is not that big of a deal if your PAT is later. For glasses, they just don’t want anything hiding your eyes, so clear glass should be OK (not tinted or sunglasses).

Anything that is not accepted you can re upload or do at port.

Is there a particular part that concerns you? Maybe we can help.

PS I put my road map in the second post of this thread.

 

[RedHead0186]

Just to check. My portrait photo can’t I wear my glasses? I can’t see a thing without them.
My check in is this month. Last year I sailed Princess because it didn’t want to do all this stuff again and it was so so quick and simple.
Then this year I forgot so booked DCL again and now my heart is sinking!!!

You can wear glasses. There just can't be a glare that blocks your eyes (just like a passport photo, they need to be able to clearly see your eyes). Alternatively, someone else could take the photo of you?

As PP said, as long as you get a picture uploaded during check in, you'll be able to complete the process and get a PAT. After that it gets reviewed by a human, who may say the photo is rejected and then you'll have to take another one and upload that. But that's not on a time crunch like during check in, and having to upload a new one won't affect your PAT.

It's really no different than what you have to do for Princess. The difference with Princess is that you can do it on your own time, where DCL creates this 'rush' when the online check in window opens and ties it to your PAT. But as long as you complete online check in before they cutoff date (a few days before sailing, IIRC) you'll be just fine.